The invention generally relates to a method and system for converting the user interface terms of a help feature of a program module into the same language as the current user interface language of the program module.
A software program module may include a help feature for providing users with guidance in performing particular functions in the program. The instructions provided to the user via a help feature often include particular steps that need to be executed to perform a particular function. These instructions may include references to particular user interface terms of the program. User interface terms are words used to describe the user interfaces (i.e., the menus, tabs, toolbars, pictures, icons and other tools) that allow a user to interact with the program. Thus, the instructions of a help feature may make reference to these user interface terms so that a user will understand which user interfaces to use to perform a particular function. For example, the instructions may advise the user to select the xe2x80x9cFilexe2x80x9d menu (where xe2x80x9cFilexe2x80x9d is the user interface term).
Programs often include a user interface language that defines the language in which user interfaces will be displayed to the user. These programs may also allow the user interface language to be set for the user by a system administrator. In a corporate environment, the system administrator may set the user interface language to a single language throughout the corporation so that the same user interface is presented to users throughout the corporation. Sometimes, the user is not allowed to change the user interface language setting unless he has system administration access. The user may, however, change the help feature language to a language different than the user interface language. For example, a corporate user may change the help feature language to Spanish even if the user interface language is in a different language, such as English. The help feature language defines the language in which the help feature will be displayed. Typically, a user will change the help feature language to the language with which the user is most familiar.
A difference between the user interface language and the help feature language is confusing to the user because the user interface terms referred to in the help feature do not match the user interface terms displayed by the program module (because the two languages are different). For example, the help feature may refer to the user interface term xe2x80x9cArchivoxe2x80x9d (if the help feature language is Spanish) while the operating system may display the user interface term as xe2x80x9cFilexe2x80x9d (if the user interface language is English). Thus, changing the help feature language to a familiar language may make the help feature easier to understand for the user but, it may also make it difficult to understand which user interfaces to use because the user interface terms are displayed in the help feature language rather than being displayed in the user interface language.
There is a need for a method and system for ensuring that the user interface terms of a help feature and the user interface terms displayed to the user by a program module are in the same language regardless of the help feature language.
The present invention meets the above-described needs by providing a method and system for converting and plugging user interface terms. A program module may allow the user to change the user interface language and the help feature language such that the user interface language may be different than the help feature language. Because the help feature often refers to user interface terms, a user may become confused if the help feature refers to user interface terms in the help language rather than in the user interface language. In one embodiment, the invention is a mechanism for dynamically changing user interface terms in the help feature to the user interface language chosen by the user as opposed to the help feature language. In one embodiment, the tagging of the HTML help feature files is altered with a special set of HTML tags (and Attributes) so that these user interface terms may be identified and converted to the user interface language. Once a particular user interface term is identified in the HTML help feature file of the help feature language, the corresponding user interface term may be retrieved from the help feature file of the user interface language by identifying the same tag and Attributes. The corresponding user interface term of the help feature file of the user interface language may then be plugged into the help feature file of the help feature language and displayed to the user.
That the invention improves over the drawbacks of the prior art and accomplishes the advantages described above will become apparent from the following detailed description of the exemplary embodiments and the appended drawings and claims.